Gotham – A Dark Knight, Episode 11: “Queen Takes Knight”

* For a recap & review of the previous episode, “Things That Go Boom” – click here
* For a recap & review of the next episode, “Pieces of a Broken Mirror” – click hereThe Iceberg Lounge sees a hostile takeover, as Sofia (Crystal Reed), Barbara (Erin Richards), Selina (Camren Bicondova), and Tabitha (Jessica Lucas) show up, they’re looking for Penguin (Robin Lord Taylor), and they mean fucking business.
Elsewhere, Captain Jim Gordon (Ben McKenzie) is rushing with the GCPD to track down Professor Pyg (Michael Cerveris) a.k.a Laszlo Valentin, a face-changing hitman. Turns out the serial killer’s got himself a new face, too. The cops also have to deal with whatever Penguin is into, after the shootout and explosion under the bridge the night prior.
At the Falcone residence, Sofia and her ladies find none other than Papa Carmine (John Doman), he has returned to Gotham City after so long. He isn’t happy with his daughter messing around there, either. “Who is this daughter I raised?” he wonders. He also has no time for that city anymore, whereas his daughter’s intent on taking it for herself. Not to mention, Carmine has been dealing with Oswald directly.“The sun never shines here”
Later on, Jim runs into Carmine and hears about all that’s going on. The old gangster says that the detective is bound to figure out the truth soon, and that it will “destroy” him. I wonder exactly what the truth is to which Mr. Falcone is referring. Is it connected to Valentin? Or, something else? Before the Falcones can leave, a vehicle arrives and a gunman fires on them. Bullets hit both father and daughter, though it’s the former who’s fatally wounded.
Meanwhile, the city is reeling after Carmine’s death. Penguin denies having done the deed, but even Zsasz (Anthony Carrigan) isn’t so sure. Sofia is, of course, devastated, and she wants something done about her father’s vicious killing. I wonder if Zsasz might defect because of this whole situation, he cared for Boss Falcone. At the funeral, Harvey Bullock (Donal Logue) shows his face, mostly to chastise his old partner Jim for not doing more now i his position as Captain, advising that he has to work hard to contain this chaos. This prompts our Cap to take action.
Well, this starts some shit. Penguin marches into the GCPD, demanding they turn over Ms. Falcone. Instead, Cpt. Gordon remains defiant, and soon all his officers, his detectives, they back him up. Nobody works for the limping criminal anymore. Gotham is changing. A new day, finally. Jim thanks the GCPD for their loyalty, preparing everyone for the war that’s coming.“Blood will run, Jim.”
Sofia tells Jim about the whole incident under the bridge, the supposed blowing up of the child, all that nastiness. This sends the Cap over to the Iceberg Lounge to arrest Cobblepot. Certainly the little man reveals the death was faked. Only when he asks Zsasz to confirm the story, the bald hitman’s not inclined to give his help to his abusive, explosively tempered boss. Thus, Oz goes into lockup at the GCPD. This is definitely not the end, though. Nevertheless, Zsasz kisses the ring of Ms. Falcone. A “new day,” indeed.
The angst-filled teen Bruce Wayne (David Mazouz) is busy partying, having sex, waking up in the afternoon, and Alfred (Sean Pertwee) cleans up after him like the dutiful butler, lamenting what the boy is becoming, worse and worse every single day. We further see the young billionaire straying from his heart, he’s turning away from Alfred, from everything he’s meant to be, and he doesn’t even see it. All leads to the two of them going fist-to-fist. A painful, emotional scene between these two characters.
Damn Ed Nygma (Cory Michael Smith) finds his identity slipping away further from him, as the Riddler pokes back into his head. He’s falling for Dr. Lee Thompkins (Morena Baccarin), which is not good for anybody. Then there’s Solomon Grundy (Drew Powell), he’s been taken by Tabitha. She wants to get him back to being Butch again, though it’s not going to be easy, it’ll take a good knocking around of his brains to get the job done.At the Falcone home, Jim goes to talk with Sofia, pleading that she doesn’t try taking over the gangs and running the Gotham underworld. He knows it’s going to occur. He didn’t think for a second Laszlo Valentin (Michael Cerveris) was part of the whole plot. We see Sofia’s the one who contracted Laszlo. All to get rid of “Pax Penguina” and to manipulate the city. On top of it all, Sofia had her own father gunned down, taking a bullet herself to play the whole thing as real.
After that, Ms. Falcone murders Laszlo. Then she turns the gun on Jim. She tries heaping the blame on him, and she tells him he’s her pawn in the GCPD from now on. The entire time they’ve known one another, she has been plotting revenge for the death of her brother. Again, Gordon is at the centre of a terrible series of events.
Now, what will Cpt. Gordon do? He chooses silence.
Wayne Manor is falling apart. After their fight, Bruce has decided on firing his trusty butler, emancipating himself from Alfred’s legal guardianship. It’s a sad, sad scene watching the boy fire his loyal friend after all they’ve been through together. Made me tear up. Where will they both go from here? Will Bruce fall into darkness completely?
So many relationships in Gotham City are fractured, from Bruce and Alfred, to Harvey and Jim. Butch is waking up from his stint as Grundy. Cobblepot is locked away in Arkham, where he hears an interesting voice from a nearby cell – Jerome Valeska (Cameron Monaghan). Yes, the Joker is coming, full fledged, baby!Wow, Season 4 has been so damn good, and this mid-season finale is no exception. We’ll soon get more Gotham, getting closer. There’s so much in store for the back half of this season.

An Update from Father Gore

Seek & Ye Shall Find

Father Gore is first and foremost a passionate lover of film— especially horror. He's also a Master's student at Memorial University of Newfoundland with a concentration in postmodern critical theory, currently writing a thesis which will be his debut novel of literary fiction, titled Silence. He also used to write for Film Inquiry frequently during 2016-17 and is currently contributing to Scriptophobic in a column called Serial Killer Celluloid focusing on film adaptations about real life murderers. As of September 2018, Father Gore is an official member of the Online Film Critics Society.